Mountain Sound
by HealerOfArrows
Summary: Ten years after graduation, Quinn and Santana go on a Glee reunion camping trip which neither of them are looking forward too. As they both try to reconcile their past loves with their new lives, will they keep it together? faberry, brittana mentions of karely and other ships from our lovely new directions, i suck at summaries; sorry. also i don't own glee or the title
1. Chapter 1

It was ridiculous really, Puck should be shot for even suggesting it; however Quinn Fabray still found herself pitching a tent with Santana Lopez in the middle of some forest in Yellowstone National Park. Lord have mercy on her soul. Especially since the majority of the New Directions were now international celebrities.

The group had created a remarkable amount of stars, she included, they were by far the biggest things to come out of Lima individually never mind collectively. It was so bazaar that Mr Schue (who now insisted he be called Will) had been interviewed by almost every talk show in the country and had a book coming out called "Talent in Every Classroom" if anything it was quite annoying that he was so quick to ride on their coattails especially since most of their glee days he couldn't give a crap.

Of course not everyone's high school dreams came true. Blaine broke the trend of performing glee clubbers by becoming a doctor, however he became an excellent doctor, thus he naturally became a TV doctor with a charm that earned his place in many a middle aged woman's hearts. Sam decided to capitalise on his easy going demeanour and athletic nature and became a children's swim coach on the West coast. Joe became a pastor and stayed in Lima, but he used his experiences to change attitudes towards homosexuality and doubled up as the new guidance counsellor at McKinley. Ryder became a football coach in Florida, he married Tina who became a teacher and ran the glee club at her school since she dropped the diva attitude and used her determination to make other kids dreams come true. Mercedes became a vocal coach and recently landed a job on the X-factor. Sugar turned out to be ridiculously business minded and opened up a chain of Breadsticks all around the US making even more money than she already had.

And these were the least successful directioners. Jake and Mike were now two of the most in demand dancers in the world having performed in productions in both ballet and Broadway in some of the most prestigious constitutions _ever. _ Marley and Kitty had become a group and were worshiped by teenage girls everywhere, not least because of the multiple Bulimia awareness and sexual assault victim charities they both take active roles in as well as sharing their own experiences. Unique now had her own talk show and was one of the best known faces in the world, in fact it was her show that first featured Dr Blaine Anderson due to some begging from Kurt. Kurt was now _the_ designer in Hollywood and had styled pretty much everyone worth styling, of course this included herself and her fellow famous glee clubbers. Brittany was now a Broadway choreographer and had won several Tonys for her efforts she lived with Rachel who was the biggest thing since Barbra over in New York but a definitive diva, just as half of McKinley would have guessed. Puck had worked his way up Hollywood and was now a producer, having worked on numerous cult horror hits. Artie was a director as he had assured everyone he would be and had worked with Puck a few times as well as directing the new Batman re-boot last year. Zizzes was now a famous stand up artist who had been a regular on SNL since last year.

This of course leaves her and Santana, the actresses. They weren't even in the same genre as each other with Santana recently coming out of filming for a rom-com starring an infinite amount of hot guys that _all_ asked her out only to be not so subtly informed that she was gay by the Latina herself. Quinn however was an Oscar award winning star that had been in a rendition of Hamlet playing Ophelia on the West End in London just a few months ago, in fact the only time the pair had worked together was on some talk show last year when Santana had revealed that they had both been in high school together and that she and Quinn had been head bitches, leaving an incredulous host and a blushing blonde. After all as far as the public saw her, she was just a shy and reserved with an admittedly troubled past (as although she had managed to keep Beth and her High School days secret with some rather expert PR, some of her old Yale friends had revealed that she had tried to starve herself a few times when she was younger, luckily they didn't know the half of it.).

Santana watched her in annoyance, rolling her eyes at her old friend as she stuggled with the tent.

"Hey, Q! Do you mind not staring into space reminiscing about 'the Good Old Days' and give me a hand with this damn tent!" The fiery woman yelled, successfully bringing Quinn out of her daze.

"Sorry, San. But you know you're better at this than I am. The Fabrays were never an all that outdoorsy bunch, at least you'd been to camp a few times!" She began fiddling with the poles but to no avail.

"Says lima's best girl scout!"

"I wasn't in girl scouts!"

"Whatever you say, Lucy Q!"

"Santana!"

"Ooh, catfight!" Puck yelled with a grin as he knelt by the two girls. "What's the matter girls? It looks like you need a man's help!"

Quinn scowled and Santana hit him across the head with a peg. "You're still such an idiot, Puckerman!"

Puck rubbed his head with a hurt expression. "Why so mean, Lopez? I was hoping we could re-live sophomore year tonight." The boy wiggled his eyebrows suggestively and turned to Quinn. "You can join in two, of course, but maybe minus the baby drama. I don't think Beth would be too impressed if we got her a younger sibling."

Quinn scoffed and rolled her eyes. Since She began meeting up with Beth and Shelby during vacations things had become a lot easier with Puck, she was now in a good enough space to actually joke about the whole ordeal. After years of therapy she'd also managed to work past all the stuff that happened with her father, although she still sometimes had nightmares that he would find her after all this time and hurt her again. The only thing about high school that she still hadn't got over was what had happened with Rachel.

(FLASHBACK!)

Quinn, Santana and Rachel had just returned from dinner to the Bushwick Loft. Needless to say both Rachel and Santana were drunk, Quinn had managed to stay relatively sober as she had sworn off getting drunk after the whole Beth thing.

"Quinnie getz your ass over here, I wants to get my cuddle on with Rachie!" Santana yelled way too loudly considering she was right next to her.

"Why am I necessary for you to hug Rachel?" Quinn asked her curiously, she never could quite understand drunken Santana.

"Because, I can't cheat on Britts! If you cuddle with us it seems way less gay!" Quinn rolled her eyes at her best friends reasoning but decided to go along with it, secretly glad for the chance to be close to Rachel.

Santana and Quinn sat on either side of Rachel on the couch, each cuddling up to the tipsy girl. Quinn watched Rachel's eyes widen in surprise but eventually she relaxed into the embrace, after a while she could her Santana begin to snore softly and decided it would be best time her and Rachel got to bed since they had already agreed to share so as to not risk an attack from one of Santana's infamous sleep-punches.

Quinn nudged Rachel and helped her up in a way that caused as little disruption to the sleeping girl as possible. Though as she saw the smaller brunette's face she noticed it was streaked red with tears, she held her hand and lead her through to her room so she could see what's wrong.

"What is it, Rachel? Honey, please look at me." She pleaded with the crying girl as she sat her down on the bed.

"It's Brody." Rachel's voice was a hoarse whisper, Quinn doesn't know how long she had been crying before she noticed; guilt began to seep into her veins at the thought of Rachel being upset and her being too self-absorbed to notice.

"What has he done? If he's hurt you…"

Rachel cut her of quickly. "No, no nothing like that, it's just," She paused unable to find the words, Quinn gave her a reassuring smile in hope to calm her down.

"It's ok, honey. Just breathe and take your time." She held on to the brunette's hands, unconscious of her adoring expression.

"You and Santana came all the way here to support me and make sure I was ok. Kurt moved here because I was lonely. Brody only wants me when it suits him, since he moved in we haven't spent one weekend together! I used to think that it would always have been Finn who'd be my knight in shining armour, but he's just as disinterested as Brody, so of all the people that came up here to help me; it was the two people who tortured me in high school! What does that say about me?"

Quinn sighed and shuffled closer to her, moving her hands to cup her face. She gently coerced her to look into her loving hazel eyes. "Please don't talk like that Rachel. You know that both Santana and I will never stop apologising for what we did to you. We meant what we said, we care for you." Quinn sighed and looked away for a second, unsure of whether she should reveal herself, and she locked eyes with Rachel again and took a deep breath. "_I_ care for you. A lot. I always have." She watched Rachel's reaction cautiously, debating on whether their intimate position was enough to make her vague words clear.

Rachel looked at her with teary eyes and a sad smile. "We both know that isn't true Quinn." The blonde shook her head in frustration; she leant in a little further so that their foreheads were touching, looking deep into chocolate eyes.

"Before the wedding last year, the one I got paralysed trying to stop, I asked you something before I agreed to go." Quinn stopped to gauge Rachel's reaction to see if she remembered, the diva nodded but retained her confusion. "I asked you if you were singing to Finn and only Finn. I asked because I had to be sure, Rachel. I had to be sure that I didn't have a chance. But you need to know how I feel now, because I don't think I could live with myself if you thought for one second you aren't loved."

"Quinn, I don't understand…" Rachel began but was cut off when Quinn closed the final few inches between their lips. Quinn had tried to make it gentle but her long-repressed emotions got the better of her as she became more and more frantic as Rachel began to return the kiss. Though, after only a few seconds the diva pulled away, refusing to look at the blonde.

"I think you should sleep on the couch with Santana tonight. I don't expect to see you in the morning." Rachel's voice was sober and emotionless, her eyes didn't once meet Quinn's and that alone broke her heart.

As requested, the following morning Quinn was on the first train back to New Haven; luckily Santana had agreed to come to New Haven with her so she didn't have to face the journey alone. On the platform Santana could sense something was wrong with her best friend.

"What happened Q?" She asked as they boarded the train. "Did Berry upset you? Cause you know I'm not afraid to go all Lima Heights on her sorry ass!"

Quinn shook her head and lifted her suitcase. "Nah San, it's just that I messed up again."

"Is that why you slept with me last night?"

"Yeah, but I don't really want to go into it. Can you do me a favour though?"

"So long as it isn't to make out with you." Santana smirked and blew a kiss to her disgusted friend.

"Firstly, eww, you said you were gonna move up here now that things have cleared with Britt earlier, right?" The Latina nodded seriously at the mention of her old love. "Well if you do, can you watch out for Rachel for me please."

"What? I thought that was your job, heck you even went to Yale over Stanford just so you could be near her!" Santana objected, confused as to what Quinn could have done that was so bad she couldn't talk to Rachel anymore.

"I told you, I screwed up, and even if she did want to talk to me I don't think we'll ever get back to what we were working to. But you know what she's like, she follows her heart way too blindly and she needs someone to keep her grounded. Otherwise someone going to take advantage and I know you care about her enough to not want that to happen. Plus if you move in with her and Kurt they'll probably give you a few months' rent free if you behave yourself."

Santana raised her eyebrows at this, one of the things keeping her in Kentucky was the price of living over in NY and if she had somewhere to crash while she got on her feet then moving might actually be a viable option for her; then again she wasn't sure if she could finally say goodbye to Brittany.

"Tell you what," She sighed, watching as Quinn raised her eyebrows " it's my Mama's birthday in a few weeks so I'm headed back to Lima soon anyway. I'll talk to Britts and try to sort things out. If we're still in this weird deadlock thing after that, I'll consider coming up here. But if she wants to get back with me, then I'm not saying no Quinn; you know my limits."

Quinn smiled and nodded. "Thank you so much San. You know I'd be there if I could be."

Santana nodded in understanding, she knew if Quinn had come to her to ask for help then the chances are she really did need it.

(END FLASHBACK!)

Puck's grin faded when he saw Quinn lost in her thoughts.

"Hey, Q I was just kidding! I didn't mean to bring that up, I'm sorry." He apologised, running a hand through his no-longer-mohawked hair nervously.

Quinn snapped out of her daze when she realised that Puck had misread her. "No, no it's fine Puck it wasn't that. I was just thinking about how much I've got over since high school, like Beth and stuff." Santana threw her a sympathetic look knowing exactly what "and stuff" really meant, since she had grown up with Quinn and seen the bruises and scars first hand and she forever blamed herself for not telling someone but when Quinn had said that telling would only make things worse she believed it. "The only thing that hasn't been resolved is Rachel." Quinn continued causing both Puck and Santana to look at her worriedly. They both knew what had happened, though it was only recently they had found out.

Santana had found out on a night out with Rachel and Kurt, the boy had drunkenly teased her about her night with Quinn at Mr Schue's wedding and Rachel had kicked off; she yelled about how cruel and slutty Quinn was to sleep with someone else after only just declaring that she was in love with her. Santana had slapped her and told her never to talk about her best friend like that again. That was the last time they spoke.

Puck had found out from Quinn when he found her cutting one night before Santana came to LA. He had only come round to drop of a present for Beth, but with one look at his old friend he knew something was horribly wrong with her. He can still remember the contrast of the blood against the carpet, how her eyes were glassy with tears and yet devoid of feeling; he wanted to yell and scream for her to wake up and look at him, for her to sort herself out and get over whatever was still hurting her. He didn't. He sat there and held her while she slowly came back to earth in his arms, he had begged her to tell him what had done this to her and in her suggestible state she had told him. He still felt guilty that he had to take advantage of that, then again he still felt guilty for the first time he took advantage.

"Yeah, about that, are you ok with her being here? I know you guys would have to meet again sometime but I really don't want to risk it putting off you're progress these last few years. She always seems to have a way to knock you right back to sophomore year in college when you see her." Puck said cautiously, though still earning daggers of Santana.

"Yeah it's fine, I can handle it this time. To be honest I need closure anyway." Quinn's voice was soft and vulnerable and she fiddled with the tent some more, avoiding her friend's eyes. "Hey! I got the pole in!" She exclaimed, changing the subject quickly.

But Santana refused to let it be dropped. "Even then Q, I'd stay away for now. I don't know how Berry is gonna react to seeing you; she might be cool and apologise but on the flipside she might freak out and hurt you again, we both know what she's like if she feels trapped and if she's stuck in the middle of nowhere with you when she isn't ready then she's definitely gonna feel it"

Quinn nodded and Puck smiled at the agreement, however Santana knew that the stubborn blonde would never give up so easily.

Between the three of them they eventually managed to put up the tent without any major injury, giving them time to look around the site. It was well secluded from popular tourist areas as a precaution given the amount of celebrities in the group, luckily the river was nearby and had been cornered off from the public to give the group some privacy. It was odd to see everyone again as she went round the tents, it was strange to see how some of them looked now. Joe had lost the dreadlocks and Sam had only took less and less care of his hair creating the mop that currently stood atop his head. Unique had completed her hormone therapies and was now a woman, a damn beautiful one at that. Mercedes still looked much the same as did Kurt, although they were perhaps more refined than before.

When she eventually reached Brittany and Rachel's tent both Quinn and Santana were frozen in awe of their past loves.

Santana swore she felt the world stand still as her Brittany, no not her Brittany, just Brittany now bound up to her and crush her in the most earthshattering hug ever. Suddenly all the pieces that had been missing through all her past relationships had come back together, she felt at home again.

"I missed you Britt." She murmured into her neck, already feeling tears stream down her cheeks

Quinn on the other hand, felt the world fell apart as she saw the girl who was never hers give her an icy glare. A divine pain tore through her heart and everything she had glued back together over the years shattered into fragments. Rachel's eyes flashed with something unrecognisably loving and she looked away, but it was too late; in that brief moment the colour returned to Quinn's world, it may have been too bright and blinding to her addled brain but not for one second will she ever let it go again.

In that moment both of the actresses knew that they were well and truly screwed.


	2. Chapter 2

As night began to fall on the group, Sam and Ryder had started a fire in the centre of the site whilst Jake and Puck had arranged logs and rocks for people to sit on so the whole group gathered round the massive blaze.

They had been telling stories about the last few years and singing songs with the accompaniment of Puck or Sam's guitar, the whole time Quinn had not once taken her eyes from Rachel. Over the evening Quinn had seen just what Rachel had become since they'd last met, she'd recognise those walls anywhere as she was usually the one with them up. Her face remained a perfect stony mask for the rest of the day and it broke Quinn's heart.

"Ok guys I don't know about you but I'm gonna hit the hay." Puck yawned, several people nodded and hummed in agreement. Rachel wordlessly got up and went back to her tent. Brittany looked to the group apologetically.

"Sorry guys, I guess she's just tired; it's been pretty non-stop lately, it's a miracle she's managed to get a break long enough to come here."

"Well we didn't expect anything else from Rachel 'Diva' Berry; I mean who are we for her to want to spare time out of her busy schedule. She's not the only one who'll have to give up commitments to be here, the tour me and Marley are meant to be on has been pushed back, Jake has had to miss an audition, so has Santana and that isn't even counting that Ryder, Tina, Sugar, Sam and Joe are all missing two week's pay to come and _she_ is the one who thinks she's the one sacrificing enough to justify barley even talking to anyone?" Kitty complained, obviously not amused by Rachel's antics.

"That's enough, Kit." Marley ordered softly but with a pointed look. Kitty immediately stood down, nodding so as not to upset Marley.

"No, she's right. Everyone is sacrificing something to be here, and if she thinks she's better than us because she made it on Broadway then she's wrong; all this security was for the actual A-listers here, like me, Quinn, Kitty, Marley, Unique and Zizzes! She has no right to act like this! If she didn't want to be here then no one forced her!" Santana yelled, accidentally letting some of her pent up anger out.

However what no one, other Quinn, seemed to notice that Rachel had come back into the circle with her wash bag. "You're right, both of you, I guess I'll leave in the morning." Her voice was cold, devoid of any hurt or emotion at all. She spun around and stormed back into the direction of the tent.

Quinn wasted no time in chasing after her, she'd be damned if she let her slip through her fingers again.

"Rachel!" She called out, running after the petite girl. When she reached her she grabbed her arm and spun her around. "San is going to kill me for chasing after you anyway so you might as well talk to me."

Rachel didn't appear to appreciate the joke, glaring at Quinn instead. "You know she's right. They're all just annoyed at me for proving them wrong, they all thought I'd never get where I am and my being here is just a reminder of their mistake. Now get off me before I scream for the security!"

Quinn shook her head and led her to the river so she didn't get lost later on. "You're wrong Rach. Everyone knew that you'd be on Broadway; your name was in lights before you were even born, but the question was that whether it would be _you_ on that stage or some unrecognisable diva who wouldn't even acknowledge us if she saw us on the street. They aren't annoyed because you proved them wrong; they're annoyed because you proved them _right _even after they believed you could make it. Everyone changes Rachel but it's unhealthy to try to be someone else entirely."

"Who are you to say who I am? Because your some shining example of a changed woman? Because you, for once in your god damned life, aren't a mess? You said it yourself, Quinn, everyone changes; you have, so I don't know why you think it's any of your business if I do!" Rachel yelled, showing emotion for the first time, unfortunately it was anger.

"I haven't changed!" Quinn replied, beginning to become infuriated. "I just stopped hiding! It's exhausting to constantly have to guard yourself from the people you love, even though I was right to on a few occasions. I've been trying to get better; so I can live properly again, so I'm not a mess; it still hurts, but I can deal with it now. So I know what it looks like to wear a mask, what it feels like to be faced with a wall; so I know that I'm not talking to the real you right now, I'm talking to the person you think it's safe to be!"

Rachel scoffed and released her arm, instead grabbing Quinn's wrists and pushing her up against a tree, effectively trapping her. "I couldn't care less about your pathetic life story, in fact it sickens me just how self-pitying you are. You say you've sorted yourself out but here you are; still blaming the world for your own mistakes. You have a perfect life Quinn, you always have, Daddy doted on you; gave you everything you could ever want. That was until you exposed yourself as the manipulative slut you are! And what? You hit a rough patch in college and go punk for a few weeks in high school and you're suddenly some fragile broken thing?" Her voice was quiet, though dripping with venom as its words consumed Quinn.

Somehow the smaller girl had managed to open every wound she had. She couldn't help but glance on the scars on her wrist before casting her eyes downward. Rachel had followed her line of sight and noticed the scars, she gasped and let go; clearly regretting her outburst. "Russell Fabray wasn't the doting kind actually. He was more of the controlling type. You learn that at an early age, you know? Violence is control. Control over Mom, Fran and myself. At first when things got out of control for me I'd lash out at others, dweebs and people who intimidated me. Until junior prom when I slapped you and you had that look in your eyes; the same look my mom had around Russell, fear. After that I started inflicting things on myself." Rachel stepped away from the girl as if her admission had been toxic.

"I- I didn't mean," She trailed off when she saw Quinn's broken eyes meet hers. "I'm sorry." She blurted out, eyes wide.

"Don't be, you weren't to know. Just stay for the first week, yeah? We move into the chalet after that with Artie and Zizzes. Please?"

Rachel knew she could no longer refuse anything from the beauty, so she hung her head in defeat. "Ok, just please don't try to talk to me again. I don't want to hurt you Quinn, but I'm going to do just that if you keep trying to push me." She looked up to see something she hadn't expected to see again, she saw Quinn's walls go back up. She immediately felt awful for tearing open her heart just to say she didn't want it, she was about to back track when Quinn cut her off.

"Ok, fair enough. I wasn't planning on any of this anyway, I just figured I might be able to get some sense into you. How arrogant to think that you might even care a fraction as much for me as I do you. Don't worry, this is our last conversation." She spun on her heel and made her way back to the camp.

"Quinn!" Rachel called after her but it was no use, she had already gone. Rachel sat on a nearby rock and finally allowed herself to cry, she knew Brittany or Kurt would come soon and she didn't want to be weak in front of them. So she tried to control the shaking sobs that threatened to erupt from her body.

Quinn managed not to cry until she was well out of hearing range. She hadn't realised just how much Rachel could still affect her. When she heard footsteps approaching the tent she suspected Santana or Puck, perhaps even Kurt but it was in fact Kitty's face that emerged from the shadows.

"I'm afraid we're sharing tonight." The younger girl explained, sitting herself down next to her. "Mars got angry about what I said about Rachel so she said I'd have to swap with someone else because she wouldn't be sleeping with me. Santana volunteered because of something to do with being her mentor or some shit so we're stuck together."

Quinn laughed and bumped her shoulder. "Sounds like someone's whipped." She joked, chuckling when the younger blonde glared at her.

"I wasn't the one chasing after Rachel a while ago." Kitty noticed the other woman's mood change at the mention of the diva. "Sorry, I don't pay attention to what I'm saying sometimes. Everyone knows something went down between you two; Puck, Santana and Britt all wanted to chase after you but Kurt told them you had to sort stuff out on your own." She paused, waiting to see if she'd be told to drop the subject since the last thing she needed was to upset someone she's been forced to share a tent with. "Did it work?" She asked, testing the waters.

"We talked, if that's what you mean. I got the closure I needed, but not in the way I wanted. I convinced her to stay the week but I honestly don't know if I still want her to, she said some things to me that I'm not sure I can get over. It's like she pulled every trigger and didn't stick around to pick up the pieces."

Kitty couldn't help the small smile because of the fact that her former idol was now confiding in her. "I don't know the details of your past, even amongst the glee club you're still shrouded by myths. By the way I so need to get a hold of your PR because they've got half of Lima genuinely confused as to whether Beth even happened. But from my experience it's not what you do to a person that judges if you can be forgiven, it's how you try to make up for it. You know what happened between Marley and I back in high school, and I never forgave myself for it. I tried so hard to build up that trust, to prove to her that I was just scared and I thought that if I ruined her then my feelings would go away. But if I'm honest, seeing her so vulnerable after she fainted, I could only love her more. Of course after that I just down right ignored her, until I finally realised that the only way to relieve any of these feelings was to vent them into making her happy. When we joined the group we only got closer, until she decided to ask me out. The fact is that if she hadn't forgiven me for what I did then we wouldn't have gotten anywhere, I don't know maybe you should be talking to Marley about this instead."

Quinn shook her head resolutely. "You know that's like exactly the same as what I did? I mean I did some pretty cruel stuff to her back then. The slushies, the names, everything; I just needed to get her away from me. After that I pretty much followed your line of thought, the whole making her happy thing. The only thing is we drifted apart after High School, she was in love with Finn and I knew he'd make her happy so I just let go. Until one night when I visited her in NY, she was just so unhappy; she thought she could never be loved, so I kissed her." Quinn heard Kitty's sharp intake of breath. "She didn't feel the same. But I guess she got her revenge in the end." She looked down and away from the other girl, desperate to forget the whole thing despite herself.

"No." Kitty's voice was stern in its comfort, forcing itself into the older girl's attention. "You've made mistakes, so has everyone but you can't let people hurt you because of it. You apologised to her, to tried to make things right; what I was trying to say before is that it's how hard you try to be forgiven that swings whether you should be. Not what you've done. And honey what you did was child's play compared to what I did to Mars back then, you were scared and you tried to make things right so please don't beat yourself up over that. You kissed her with the best of intentions, it's not your fault she doesn't feel the same so don't think that can be her excuse."

Quinn nodded with a shadow of a smile, "Thanks Kitt. You know I'm glad we managed to get past the whole idolising thing, even if we did end up doing the exact same thing." She bumped the smaller girls shoulder light-heartedly.

"Sorry Quinn but I don't remember getting pregnant, becoming a punk or being paralysed." Kitty joked, momentarily worried she'd pushed too hard again but was relieved when Quinn laughed as she turned around and got into the tent.

"At least I haven't left my girlfriend alone with Santana 'lady killer' Lopez in a tent." Quinn ducked her head out the tent to whisper in Kitty's ear. "Rumour has it, she's a sleep groper."

Kitty squeaked indignantly as Quinn dragged her into the tent. After half an hour or so of trying to get to sleep Kitty was still awake, in turn meaning Quinn was too.

"Hey, I was kidding about Santana. She won't try anything with Marley, she only goes for blondes. I should know." Quinn tried to reassure the girl and was rewarded with a laugh.

"First of all, ew why the hell would you go there? Please tell me you're not still or you were going to in here." The girl sat up with a start. "Oh my god, you already have haven't you?"

Quinn burst out into hysterics at the other girl's assumption. "No! Were you not paying attention to the whole Rachel conversation? It was ages ago, like Mr Schue's wedding."

"Phew, it's still gross though. Anyway the reason I can't sleep isn't because of that, it's because Marley and I have shared the same room if not bed since graduation. Even when she made me sleep on the couch, it was in the same room so I never felt that far away from her. Plus This matt doesn't feel like it's cushioning anything!"

Quinn laughed and put her arms around the younger girl. "What are you doing?" Kitty questioned, feeling odd in someone else's hold.

"Trust me, it'll warm you up and make you feel less lonely. I can guarantee San is doing the same for Mars anyway because the chances are you guys both feel the same, you'll be back tomorrow night. Just try and relax, ok?" Quinn explained.

Kitty nodded and felt herself loosen a bit, she soon drifted off to sleep with Quinn following behind. It was nice to hold someone without the expectation of anything other than comfort. She and Santana used to but they hadn't had a sober sleepover since high school, so it was a pleasant change to be able to bask in someone's warmth without the dread of the morning after.

Even if that someone was really just pining after somebody else.


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n sorry for the delay guys, been really busy lately. This chapter is also a lot shorter that the last two but i just wanted a way to show a bit from Rachel's perspective here since she was kind of out of character in the last two, also i wanted to reinforce that neither of them are perfect and that they're both trying to sort themselves out. Thanks for all my lovely reviewers. (by the way if you review it's like totally cool and motivates me to write more so you guys are super awesome) Any way enough of my blabbing here's chapter 3!**

Rachel woke up with a pounding head. It turned out controlling her tears was harder than anticipated last night and she ended up crying herself to sleep. Brittany had stayed by her side the whole night and Kurt had only left when Blaine came to check up on him, it made her feel unbelievably guilty that she had made her friends stick through her drama. Even more so when she knew her predicament was entirely of her own creating.

The thing was that she had no idea what to do with herself lately. It was like there was an emptiness that was bound to consume her heart and she had no idea how to stop it, it had grown and grown since Finn died and nothing and no one could possibly fill it. Apart from Quinn.

Of all the people to be her guiding light it was Quinn Fabray, it always was and always would be. From junior year when she reassured her that she was meant for greatness to freshmen year of college where she came to once again reassure her that she was still destined for that path. But in the end, whenever she had that precious light in her grasp she would always crush it.

She had spent her entire Senior year and most of her junior year pining after Quinn, desperate for her to acknowledge that their friendship could be something more. But when she was actually faced with it she realised she wasn't ready, she couldn't deal with the responsibility that came with someone you genuinely care about. At the end of the day she was scared of the fact that she would give up her dreams and achievements; she'd die or kill for her and that was a commitment and an intensity of feeling that she simply wasn't prepared for. So she ignored Quinn with all her strength; every phone call, email or text was conveniently deleted and in fact the last time they had spoken had been her telling Quinn not to show up to the glee memorial for Finn. Of course she had been resistant at first but after half an hour of bullshit about how Quinn stole two years from her and Finn and no one wanted her there because how much of a bitch she was, did she finally agree to not go. It had felt after that, that she was finally free of the whole situation.

That was until last night, when she could barely keep her eyes of the girl. Every laugh felt like a kick In the teeth, every smile a punch to the face and when she realised that her gaze had been returned the entire time her heart broke. At that moment when her eyes met those enchanting hazel orbs she had already decided to leave in the morning; she simply couldn't let 9 years of building walls be ruined because she got lost in her heart again.

She just didn't expect Quinn to chase after her.

Quinn had never fought against Rachel, no matter how much she hurt her she accepted that they would always be on her terms. So when she had exploded it simply didn't occur to her that there was a reason that Quinn had always been such a complicated enigma. The scars on her wrists had torn her mask to pieces; she was utterly vulnerable for the first time since that first slushee when she was a naïve freshman. Her heart broke as her love explained her past, as Quinn opened up her heart in a way she had never thought possible. Rachel knew Quinn hadn't done this for anyone before, to completely willingly surrender herself to someone. That was what terrified her back into her mask.

"Are you going to leave today, Rach?" Britt asked, breaking the silence. "It's ok if you are; everyone was kinda mean last night."

"No, Quinn convinced me to stay. Although I doubt she'll want to talk to me now." She explained, thankful that Brittany knew to let her bring up the subject of Quinn by herself.

"Are you guys fighting?" Brittany asked; it really was remarkable that she had kept her innocence throughout the years, especially as she has been through the cut throat business that is Broadway _and_ one of the most prestigious academic universities in the world.

"I don't know, Britt. I said some pretty bad things to her, way worse than what she has said to me in high school. I feel awful." Rachel sat up to look at her old friend, tears already began to prickle her eyes as she realised that she really didn't deserve Brittany's kindness.

"She'll come round, Rach. She cares about you, even after all this time; it was clear to everyone last night by the way she never stopped looking at you. I just know that she'd forgive you no matter what you did."

"Why should she?" The words left her mouth before her mind caught up to them, the idea that Quinn would so easily forgive her was both wonderful and heart breaking. "I've spent the entire time I've known her trying to assign her to my preconceptions; It was always so much easier and less painful than trying to dig deeper, but she opened up to me and showed me her true heart and I turned it away _twice_! No amount of grovelling or apologies should make up for that, even if I wish it could."

"Quinn isn't perfect. She's hurt people, she's hurt _you,_ I really don't think it's a good idea to start blaming yourself for that. She has issues, of course, but you're not responsible for them so don't get upset over it."

Rachel frowned, frustrated at Brittany not understanding her guilt. "But I do and I should get upset. I care about her; I hate that she has issues and it would be unthinkable to ignore them because I didn't directly cause them. Dammit, I can't get my own head around it but I know that I need her to forgive me. There's no point in trying to protect myself from this anymore; not when all I want, have ever really wanted, was her."

Brittany smiled and looked Rachel in the eyes for the first time that morning. "Then go get her. Like I said, she'll forgive you but that won't happen unless you fight for her." She smiled and Rachel was once again annoyed at herself for not realising that Brittany _always_ understands her. "You've got two weeks, Rach. Two weeks to win her trust back." She leant in a little closer and paused for effect with a playful smile on her lips. "I'd go and start now."

Rachel nodded and rushed out the tent, there was no way she was going to let Quinn go again.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n super sorry for the lateness and shortness of this, i've been super busy lately! As always thank you to my lovely reviewers, favourite and review as always please **

When Quinn had woken up she had been surprised at to find a mop of brunette hair in her face instead of Kitty's blonde. Of course her immediate thought had been Rachel, but she quickly realised that it was in fact Santana. She was literally on top of Quinn and with a glance to her left she saw Kitty and Marley in a similar position next to her, she rolled her eyes and started tapping Santana to try and wake her up. However she seemed to have no such luck and the weight of her friend on top of her was extremely uncomfortable, especially since she knew Santana would kill her if she let her cuddle up to her a moment longer.

Eventually Quinn heard movement next to her and turned to see a wide eyed Marley with a ridiculously confused expression considering it was her and Santana that sneaked into their tent in the first place.

"Don't know why you're looking so confused, you're the ones who thought me and Kitty would make comfortable beds." Quinn whispered, not caring if she woke up the girl on top of her but knowing that Santana was way too heavy a sleeper.

"It was Santana's idea! I was lonely and it definitely didn't help to come over here and see you cuddling up to _my girlfriend_!" Marley whispered harshly.

"Hey, it was only because she was lonely too! Plus it's freaking freezing at night!" Quinn retorted.

Marley looked about to reply but Santana began to stir above Quinn gaining both of their attention. Quinn blushed as Santana nuzzled into her neck and began to wiggle uncomfortably as she began to place soft kisses there.

"I don't want to wake up yet, babe." She murmured and Quinn huffed in frustration and tried to lift her off her.

"How long were you alone with her last night?" Kitty's hoarse voice made itself known, Quinn sighed with relief that she didn't need to be quiet anymore.

"Santana Marie Lopez if you don't wake up right now, I swear I'm going to rip your face off." She yelled kicking her legs to shake her.

Santana lifted her face to reveal mischievous eyes and a killer smirk. " Oh don't tell me you didn't enjoy it Fabgay."

"What the hell? You did that on purpose?" Kitty and Marley began laughing hysterically as Quinn could only lie there with an incredulous expression.

"You are so dead Lopez! Quinn's gonna flip when she comes back to reality, so if I were you; I'd run!" Kitty advised through giggles. Santana immediately scrambled up and ran out of the tent with Quinn hot her tails as she eventually snapped out of her daze.

They ran through the forest, not caring if Santana's squeals and Quinn's yells woke up the whole group; although when they passed the campfire it seemed almost everyone was already around it having breakfast.

"I'm going to kill you! You bitch!" Quinn was so caught up in chasing after Santana that she hadn't realise that she was running straight into a rather shocked Rachel Berry. The two crashed into each other with force and with wide eyes they both tore away from each other. "Sorry, I was chasing after Santana." Quinn apologised timidly, looking around to see if she could find where the Latina had actually went. "Err I don't know why she got to actually, did she pass your tent earlier?"

"Yeah actually she's hiding in there with Britt. What did she do?" Rachel couldn't help but smile at how adorable Quinn was when she was nervous, however the smile faded when she realised that last night was the reason for those nerves.

"She, erm, she came into the tent at night and slept on top of me." Quinn scratched her head and paused, unsure as to whether she should tell Rachel the rest of the story. "Then when I woke up she pretended she was still asleep and she was dreaming about some chick and she was all clingy and gross."

Rachel's eyes widened and Quinn could swear she saw a flash of jealousy. "Oh, that sounds traumatic." Quinn nodded awkwardly and began to walk away but Rachel grabbed her hand before she could leave. "Sorry. I'm so, so sorry for last night and everything before that; I know you're not going to just forgive me and I wouldn't want you to but I want you to know that I'm done hiding from this. I'll do whatever it takes to win back your trust." She focused on portraying that she was willing to be vulnerable instead of how perfectly her hand felt in Quinn's when she entwined them.

Quinn's jaw tightened and her gaze tore away from Rachel, she was wary to let herself be weak again in fear that another rejection may just put her back to college in terms of her health and she really doesn't want to risk that. She looked back into those chocolate orbs that had been the centre point of her dreams since high school. "Please can we not go there? Can we just focus on getting to know each other again before we go into the heavy stuff?" She pleaded, knowing full well that she'd end up forgiving her but if they were really going to go there she needed to be able to dictate the pace. So at the moment, just rekindling their friendship was about all she could handle.

Rachel nodded with a triumphant smile as this was pretty much the best outcome she could have hoped for. "Ok, that's fine with me. Britt was wondering if we could have a boys vs girls race to the lake, are you up for it?"

"Yeah sounds fun, might get me away from both the Puckermans and their insatiable flirting. Personally I think they're just bitter because their high school exes turned out to be gay." Quinn joked but she honestly didn't know what any of them saw in the two.

Rachel laughed but before she could say anything Brittany and Santana came running towards them with concerned expressions. "You better not have upset my girl again, Berry." Santana threatened but Quinn simply rolled her eyes. Brittany slapped her arm and pointed to the pairs joined hands.

"Don't be mean, San. Look they're friends now!" The dancer jumped up and down excitedly and bounded towards Quinn, forcefully hugging her. "This means we can be friends again, Q!"

Quinn looked to both Santana and Rachel for help but they both simply shrugged, so she decided to just relax into the embrace and enjoy having her old friend back. Quinn hated to think on how much she had missed because of the ridiculous feuding going on between the four of them, it really was time to bury the hatchet and hopefully this camping trip could help them do it.

"Are you guys doing this race thing?" Quinn asked, gently prying Brittany off of her.

"Totally! Aren't we, San?" She squealed and turned to look at Santana with expectant blue eyes.

Santana opened her mouth to say something but clearly changed her mind when she saw Brittany's insatiable puppy dog eyes. "Yeah, sure. Anything to get away from the Puckermans." She shrugged .

"I said the exact same thing!" Quinn exclaimed.

"You two have been spending way too much time with each other." Rachel grinned at how similar the two really were. She realised that her hand was still firmly in Quinn's and began to pull it away but she felt the other hand grasp firmer.

Quinn smiled at her when she furrowed her brow. "Wait, what were you guys doing in the tent?" She asked, noticing that Brittany and Santana had their arms around each other. Though, noticing the flustered look they shared; she decided she definitely didn't want to know.

"Gross, Britt. How am I meant to sleep in there now?" Rachel whined.

"You can share with Q!" The Dutch girl suggested excitedly.

"Wait, are you sure that's a good idea? Can you deal with that Q?" Santana checked concernedly , while it was great that Quinn was beginning to get closure she really didn't want her to get hurt anymore. It had been hard for her and Puck to keep her protected by unwanted attention when she last relapsed, it would be practically impossible now the paparazzi were part of all of their daily lives.

"What are you talking about? If we're meant to be worried about anyone it should be Rach. I mean Q _has _been ignoring her all these years." Brittany frowned adorably in confusion and Santana would have laughed if she wasn't already furious.

"_What? Is that what she told you?_" He voice was a mix between horrified and incredulous. Although with one look at the thinly disguised hurt in Quinn's eyes she knew there would be no mercy in her impending rage.

Quinn saw Santana's posture change and heard the low growl in the back of her throat. She moved her hand to grip her left bicep in an attempt to hold her back. She was hurt that Rachel had told Brittany that but she wasn't surprised. "Leave it San, we're putting that behind us now."

"Don't you dare be forgiving her Quinn. I was there when you left those messages on our answerphone , I was there when she blanked you at Finn's funeral and I thought it was your fault. I was there when you were in hospital when you attempted to kill yourself, I saw how ashamed you were and you still thought it was you're fault. Every call never answered, every letter sent back and every damn time when you'd try and see one of her shows only to have a load of beef heads tell you that you can't go in; I was there. Now I'm sorry Britt but that bitch over there," Santana pointed at Rachel with contempt in her eyes. "She's been lying to you and I won't spend five seconds near her if she doesn't give me a damn good reason as to why."

Brittany frowned and turned to Rachel. "No San, it was Quinn who was being the mean one. Rachie wouldn't lie to me, especially for all this time."

Santana scoffed and looked at Rachel expectantly, waiting for her to even attempt to make things right.

"You've got it wrong, Santana. Britt's right. I should have made more effort, she's worth fighting for and I gave up." Quinn's voice was a strange mix between defeated and confident as she met Rachel with desperate eyes.

"What the hell? Have you all lost your god damned minds, look at her! You fell apart by her hands Quinn! And to make things worse she's been lying to Britany all this time! How could you ever stand up for someone like that?"

Rachel turned on her heel and ran in the opposite direction from the attack, she was completely unprepared to have to face the reality of what her actions had really done to the people around her. She ran as tears began to well up again, the idea that Quinn had been so badly hurt and yet was still willing to stand up for her was as heart breaking as it was reassuring. It seemed she really had changed.

Once her legs couldn't take her any further she collapsed against a tree; the area of the forest was beautiful as it was alien, the towering trees simply replicated itself for miles giving no way of telling where she was. She cried even harder when she realised that she was now both lost and alone with no hope of finding her way back without a map to guide her.

"You shouldn't have ran, it'll only give her more ammunition. You know how she works, if you show her weakness then she'll use it no matter how much of a sore spot it is." Quinn's voice was soft, softer that she'd ever heard it. It wasn't laced with pain and resentment, nor was it with anger and fear; it seemed for the first time since she first visited New York it was just Quinn that was in front of her.

"I don't know why you keep on coming after me, I've been vile." Rachel muttered, still secretly hoping that Quinn would give her an easy way out by saying that she hated her; god knows she deserves it.

The blonde sat down next to her and moved her chin so that she could meet her chocolate eyes. "I'll always come after you, plus I think I deserve this after all I've put you through."

"But," Rachel began, desperate for Quinn to realise that she isn't in the wrong but with a stern look she was silenced.

"It may have been a long time ago but it would still have had an impact on your life. Everyone has issues with their past Rach and I gave you more; I don't deserve you to forget about that. The only difference between our situations is I had time to work past everything, I got myself better; you were shoved into the limelight when you were still in college, before you could even find your feet there were already a thousand eyes watching your step! If you try and tell me that didn't have an effect on you then I don't know what could."

"You need to stop justifying my actions. I hurt you. Therefore this is my fault. There isn't any excuse for what I put you through, I got slushied and humiliated; you had your entire world took from under you. My fame or my past doesn't change that."

Quinn straightened up and her hands reached up to cup Rachel's face. " We hurt each other then, but we can heal each other as well; forget what I said earlier, I still care for you and I'll always forgive you."

Rachel gazed into the amazing green eyes that swam with love and expectation. "I'll always forgive you too." She realised that the only way she was going to completely prove to Quinn that she was up for this was to be the one to take the next step. She leant forward and shut her eyes as she saw Quinn so the same, their lips connected in the most magical of kisses. It was everything she had wished their first kiss could have been; fire and ice, torture and bliss, sweetness and passion.

To both of them, it seemed they were home.


	5. Chapter 5

"Fucking Hell Fabray!" Santana yelled at the sight of Quinn and Rachel kissing. Brittany grabbed her arm before she could get to them, because they both knew that if Santana got a hold of Rachel now then there was a very high chance that she would end up in jail. She turned to see her true love's glimmering blue eyes, her anger quickly began to fade although there was no way she would let this go.

When she had moved to New York it had been mostly out of selfish reasons; to escape her past, to find a future, to work out what exactly she was without Brittany by her side. But the deciding factor was Quinn's pleas for her to look after Rachel for her, she'd never seen her former rival so vulnerable as when she asked her.

Brittany was also a major reason she left. When they'd agreed that long distance wasn't working she'd honesty just assumed they'd wait for each other anyway; so when she'd found out that not only had Brittany had moved on but was actually in love with someone else, she was hurt beyond belief. She just needed to get out of there, out of Lima and into a ridiculously rushed and meaningless relationship with Dani but that was a whole different story. Rachel had been there for that, she had took Quinn's place as a non-judgemental shoulder to cry on and that was a turn of events she'd never stop regretting.

The thing is, Santana had looked up to Quinn her whole life. It was always Quinn that pushed for better, even when she was Lucy and that was what she had always admired most about her. Though when puberty had been considerably kinder to her than it had Quinn in middle school she'd refused to be seen in public with her. They hadn't really talked after that until she saw the bruises that marked Quinn's body in gym class, until then she had believed that Quinn's father had stopped hitting her years ago. It was then that she realised just how cruel she had been to abandon her.

(FLASHBACK)

As the rest of the class filtered out the locker room Santana lingered behind, determined to find out what had happened to her old friend.

"Lucy?" Santana had asked timidly, her voice was uncharacteristically shaken and nervous considering her long running habit of loudly announcing whatever the hell she wanted. She placed a cautious arm on the young blondes shoulder to get her attention but recoiled when she winced. Lucy turned to look at her with those expressive green eyes.

"What do you want, Santana? I'm not in the mood for this right now." Lucy had always been a sweet girl, she'd never said anything hurtful towards anyone, so to hear this pained, cold voice come from her lips was entirely alien to Santana. Sure they hadn't spoken in a while but they were surely still friends?

"I- your bruises." She stuttered, entirely aware she wasn't making sense. " How did you get them?"

Lucy shot her a cold look. "I fell down the stairs, not like it's any of your business."

Santana sighed and took a step closer to the girl. "Don't give me that Lucy Q. We've known each other far too long for you to get away with bullshitting me like that."

"If we know each other so well then why the hell is this the only time you've spoke to me in public since we came here? In fact what even makes you think you know anything about me? All you know is the pathetic, fat little kid who was naïve enough to think that her best friend would stick by her no matter what but it turns out It only takes one ditzy cheerleader to make you want nothing to do with me!" Lucy began to yell as she ended her rant and tears fell down her cheeks. She couldn't see the fury that had taken over Santana's features.

Santana grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her into the lockers, pinning her there with her arm around her neck. "Don't you dare turn this onto Brittany, I'm trying to be nice to you but you're too busy feeling sorry for yourself to let me. Now, I'm going to make this clear so don't even try messing with me." Her voice was dripping with venom although it began to soften as she saw the fear in Lucy's eyes. "Who hurt you?"

"I don't know but it looks like you're about to." Her voice was cold and emotionless; Santana knew in that moment that she'd do anything to get her Lucy back. She let go of her and immediately regretted her anger when she winced in pain. "Don't call me Lucy anymore."

"What?" Santana asked, confused as to why she'd want to drop her name.

"As soon as summer starts I'm Quinn. If you want to stay friends with me then you'll help me turn this around." Lucy explained.

"What makes you think I want to be friends with you? You'd only damage my rep anyway." Santana replied defensively.

"Because you and Brittany are transferring to McKinley too and I'm trying out to be a Cheerio. We could all go together and I'm pretty sure we'd rule that place with Britt's talent, my brains and your looks. I'll get to the top anyway Santana: it isn't that selfish to want my best friend to be there with me." Lucy's voice was still harsh although some of her old vulnerability still shone through, the sound was enough to break Santana's heart.

"Ok, I've got your back. " She sighed dejectedly, she turned to leave the locker room but before she left she faced Lucy once more. "If you ever trust me again to tell me about those bruises then know that I'll be with you if you want to do something about them." With that she left Lucy for the last time, from that point Lucy was dead; Quinn was born.

(END FLASHBACK)

"Please don't do this Sanny." Brittany begged, still clutching her arm.

"You didn't see what she did, you didn't watch the light in her eyes dim until they were just as dark as she was; you know how I feel about you Britt but at the moment Quinn is my priority." Santana hated herself as she admitted that Brittany was no longer the most important person in her life. Even though their actual break up had been surprisingly amicable it was still hard to think about how quickly the tall blonde had found another love of her life, especially since Santana knew that she herself never moved on.

Brittany's eyes watered in hurt and dated away from the dark, intense orbs that bore into her soul. "If you don't trust my judgements with this then trust Quinn's. If she can forgive her why can't you? I didn't see Quinn after you left but I saw Rachel. I saw her shut down. Do you remember that megawatt smile that used to annoy the hell out of everyone? I haven't seen it since I moved in with her, and I think if you remember you haven't seen it either at least not after Finn. She isn't unaffected by this so please don't make her into a villain. Why can't they just fix each other?"

Santana looked back to the pair who were still too lost in each other to even notice they had been found. "Fine, I'll let them be but if she so much as annoys my girl then I'm feeding her to the wolves."

Brittany's eyes light up as she crushed Santana in an excited hug. Santana was about to broach the subject about their own relationship, knowing that after being so hurt by Brittany once she needed some reassurance she wasn't setting herself up for it to happen again; but seeing her love so happy and carefree she decided to wait until another time. After all there was no reason why they couldn't have fun while they had so much time together before they got to the serious stuff .

"I think I just heard Santana." Rachel murmured between kisses, too addicted to the new sensation to stop.

"Don't care." Was Quinn's blunt reply as she fisted her hands into soft brown hair, pulling the other woman impossibly closer. Rachel shook her head and pulled away, thankful for the opportunity to breathe.

"I hope you're not under the impression that kissing me will be the answer to everything Quinn Fabray because that is an idea I'll have to nip in the bud." Rachel's eyes sparkled with mirth when she was met with an adorably confused Quinn.

The blonde looked exaggeratedly to where she found Santana and Brittany in the middle of some intense conversation. Concern flashed on her features though it disappeared almost immediately after. She was worried that Santana may throw herself into another damaging relationship so she wasn't as lonely anymore but Quinn knew she could trust that there was something genuine between her and Brittany; after all she'd watched it grow since they were kids. The only question was if it was still there.

"Don't worry about them Quinn, I know you and Santana have gotten close but you two need to trust each other to take care of yourselves." Rachel seemed to be able to read her thoughts; the jest in her tone gone to allow a cautious concern, like she was afraid that she didn't have the right to give her advice. In her own opinion she certainly didn't.

Quinn looked at her blankly; it still felt odd that, even after years of gently prying her walls down, someone could not only see into her mind. She felt vulnerable in a way she hadn't experienced since she was a child at the cruel hands and words of Russell Fabray; her immediate response was to defend. "You don't know anything about Santana and I. We've always been close, since we were kids we've looked out for each other." As soon as she said it she regretted the icy, superior tone that so reminded her of her mother.

"Oh". Rachel knew that navigating the minefield that is Quinn Fabray's emotions would hurt her at some point she just wished it wasn't so obvious.

"Rach, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you, it's just…" Quinn paused she still struggled with articulating her thoughts especially when the haze of guilt was addling her eloquence. "It's just I haven't let anyone see who I am, like underneath all this, apart from you and Santana. I haven't wanted to. And for so long I haven't wanted you to either and I guess that's something I need to work on because you can obviously see right through me anyway." She couldn't look at her as she mumbled the confession.

"It's ok, I shouldn't have pried. I guess we should do what we said before, get to know each other. I mean we've had a pretty big gap between we were on that level of closeness that we could talk to one another so it's not a surprise we're a bit out of sync." Rachel tucked a stray blond hair behind blushing ears, utterly endeared that Quinn found it so embarrassing to say what she was feeling. "So for now, I suggest we head out to do that hike Brittany was talking about and while we're out we can just ask each other stuff. Find out who Rachel Berry and Quinn Fabray are circa 2020 and if one of us asks something the other doesn't want to answer we can veto it. That sound good?"

Quinn couldn't help the shit eating grin that tore through her face as she kissed the tiny diva soundly on the lips, suddenly overcome with just how much she had always loved her. "It is beyond me how I ever let you go."


End file.
